Deuteronomy 27
You’re doomed if you do this
Make a monument to the law
1Moses, in a joint address with other leaders, told the people of Israel: “Follow all the laws I’m giving you today. 2Then when you cross the Jordan River and step onto the land the LORD your God is giving you, set up a stone marker. [1] Use large stones and coat them in plaster. [2] 3Write on that monument every word of this law. [3] Do it right after you cross the river so you can safely go into the land where milk and honey flow like rivers. It’s land the LORD your God is giving you, just as he promised your ancestors.4After you cross the Jordan River, put this stone monument on Mount Ebal [4] and coat the stones with plaster. Do just what I’m telling you. 5When you get there, build the stone altar. Don’t shape the stones with chisels. 6Find uncut stones and stack them in a pile to form a sacrificial altar. There, you’ll sacrifice burnt offerings [5] to the LORD your God. 7You’ll also sacrifice peace offerings. [6] Then you’ll eat together and celebrate as the LORD your God watches. 8Write every word of the law onto these stones.”
Take the law to the hills
9Then Moses, in a joint address with the Levite priests, told the people, “Listen to me, all you people of Israel. Today it’s official. You are now God’s people. [7] 10So now is when you need to follow all of his laws and obey the rules I’m telling you today.” 11Moses also said, 12“When you cross the Jordan River, go to the twin mountains of Gerizim and Ebal. [8] Have these six tribes stand on Mount Gerizim and recite [9] God’s blessings for following the law: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, [10] and Benjamin. 13Have these six tribes stand on Mount Ebal and recite the painful consequences of breaking the law: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.Doomed. Can I get an “Amen”?
14Then the tribe of Levi will shout these words. [11] 15“Doomed. [12] Those are the people who carve idols out of wood or make metal ones in a mold. Artisans, mere humans, make those things in secret. Idols like that disgust the LORD.”All the Israelites will reply, “Amen.” [13]
16“Doomed. Those are people who treat their father or mother like dirt.”
The people will say, “Amen.”
17“Doomed. Those are people who try to steal their neighbor’s land by moving the boundary markers.”
The people will say, “Amen.”
18“Doomed. Those are people who point blind folks in the wrong direction.”
The people will say, “Amen.”
19“Doomed. Those are people who cheat immigrants, orphans, or widows.” [14]
The people will say, “Amen.”
20“Doomed. People who have sex with their father’s wife. That’s a dishonorable way to treat your own dad.”
The people will say, “Amen.”
21“Doomed. Those are people who have sex with any animal.”
The people will say, “Amen.”
22“Doomed. Those are people who have sex with their sister—daughter of their father or mother.”
The people will say, “Amen.”
23“Doomed. People who have sex with their mother-in-law.”
The people will say, “Amen.”
24“Doomed. Those are people who murder their fellow Israelites in secret.”
The people will say, “Amen.”
25“Doomed. Those are people who get paid to hurt someone.”
The people will say, “Amen.”
26“Doomed. Those are people who don’t follow the law.”
The people will say, “Amen.”
Footnotes
Israelites set up this 12-stone monument at Gilgal, just east of Jericho (Joshua 4:19). The stones came from the middle of the Jordan River. The Bible says the river stopped flowing long enough for the Israelites to walk across during the springtime flooding season.
Plaster served as a clean, smooth surface for writing the laws. Egyptians used plaster as a background for writing hieroglyphics and for drawing pictures.
What “law” was Moses talking about? Scholars don’t agree. The Hebrew word is tora. Today, Jews call their code of laws the Torah. These are the laws in the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. That would be a lot of words to write onto the plaster-covered monument. Perhaps the law Moses spoke about was the law he outlines in Deuteronomy chapters 12-26. Still, that’s a lot of words for a stone monument. Another possibility might be the foundation of all the laws for the Torah: the Ten Commandments.
Some scholars say this reference to Mount Ebal is a mistake. For one reason, Mount Ebal is about 40 (64 km) miles northwest of Jericho. For another, Joshua 4 confirms that Israelites built the stone monument at Gilgal, where it stayed as a reminder for everyone to obey God’s laws. Later, under Joshua’s leadership, the Israelites would go to the twin mountains of Ebal and Gerizim to rededicate themselves to the law and to the agreement they made with God to obey it (Joshua 8). If the reference to Mount Ebal isn’t a copying error, then perhaps the Israelites carried the stone monument onto the highest mountain in the region, deep in the heart of Canaan—which seems unlikely. Mount Ebal’s elevation is over 3,000 feet (940 m). Or maybe they built a second one. It’s a mystery.
This was the most common animal sacrifice. Worshipers burned the entire animal. See Leviticus 1.
A peace offering, described in Leviticus 3, is one of several prescribed offerings in Jewish tradition. When Jewish people wanted to give thanks to God for something, such as good health or safety, they would sacrifice a sheep, goat, cow, or bull. They would burn part of the animal, including the kidneys and fat covering the intestines. They would eat the rest in celebration, often with family and friends. It takes a fair number of hungry people to eat a cow. But people were eager to eat meat because it was rare in Bible times for common folks to eat meat, many Bible scholars say.
Some scholars say the Israelites were God’s people long before this. God said so many times, according to Scripture. “I choose you as my people. I’ll be your God” (Exodus 6:7). “You are my people. You’re devoted to me and therefore holy to me” (Exodus 22:31). But perhaps Moses was using some hyperbole to emphasize the fact of it and the importance of this moment in their history as they prepared to invade Canaan and claim it as home.
Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal are two mountains side-by-side, separated by a valley that provided a popular route for travelers in Bible times. The mountains were near the center of Canaan. Today, they’re in the Occupied West Bank, which is Palestinian Territory patrolled and increasingly settled by Israelis. In the time of Moses, the area was already sacred to the Israelites. That’s because Abraham, father of what became the Jewish people, camped near there, close to the city of Shechem. And this is where God told Abraham, “I’m going to give this land to you and your family” (Genesis 12:7).
It’s not clear who’s doing the talking. The people are on Mount Gerizim. In Hebrew, the word describing what they’re doing is barak, meaning “to bless.” But are they reciting the blessing or perhaps standing there to symbolize the blessings? Later in this chapter, they’re simply saying “Amen” to the priests reciting the words. Some scholars say the chapter may have been pieced together from different versions of the story or perhaps different events.
Joseph’s descendants formed two tribes: Ephraim and Manasseh.
Until now, it looks as though the tribes were going to be reciting the blessings and punishments. But here, it looks like Levi’s tribe of priests and their associates will do the talking. It’s unclear what happens. What follows in this chapter is simply the priests reciting the list of sins and the condemnation. They skip the blessings. As the story goes in Joshua 8, the priests with the Box of Law that contains the Ten Commandments stood in the valley between the two mountains. Joshua read the blessings and punishment. It’s not clear how the Israelites renewed their commitment to the laws of God either at Gilgal or at the twin mountains. But it’s clearly stated that they did rededicate themselves to God and to obeying his laws. Twice.
Literally, “cursed,” from the Hebrew word arar. It’s the opposite of a blessing. If God declares someone cursed, God is announcing a bad future for that person who disobeyed him. There’s doom ahead.
When we say “Amen” we’re speaking Hebrew. The Hebrew word for “Amen” is Amen. If we translated it into English, we could use “so be it,” “yes,” “absolutely,” “that’s the truth,” “you got that right,” “heck, yeah.” Or we could say “Amen” because it’s a word as universal as “okay.”
These are people at greatest risk of being exploited and endangered. God wants them protected.
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